The Chattanooga Mocs men’s basketball program plays the middle game of three in a row home Thursday night against Mercer. The Southern Conference matchup tips off at 8 p.m., following the women’s contest with Wofford beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Chattanooga’s won two of three to start the New Year including last Saturday’s 80-75 triumph over Samford. The win over the Bulldogs shows signs of maturation for the young team as the visitors cut a 14-point lead down to a mere point with 2:12 to go before the Mocs made the plays down the stretch to win the game.
"The biggest thing was stick-to-itiveness I think," Coach Lamont Paris shared in his post-game press conference.
"We really stayed the course in what we wanted to do defensively. We didn't waver when they went bang-bang on a couple scores where we made a mistake. We didn't abort that mission and go to something else, we stayed true in what we wanted to do in this game. We kept it pretty simple and played within what we wanted to do.
"No one had to play hero ball. That doesn't mean we didn't make a couple big shots here and there, but I thought it was commitment in what we wanted to do and we just stayed the course."
Kevin Easley leads the Mocs averaging 14.9 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Ramon Vila (11.5) and Donovann Toatley (11.7) add double-digit scoring to the group. The Bears are paced by guard Ross Cummings at 16.5 points per contest. Cummings is the reigning SoCon Player of the Week registering 29.0 points per game in a split with a win over Western Carolina and overtime loss to ETSU in Macon.
It airs on ESPN3 online and 96.1 FM in Chattanooga. Audio is also available on the TuneIn app as well as GoMocs.com. Home tickets are available at the link above or by calling (423) 266-MOCS (6627).
Chattanooga ends the home stand Saturday with a visit from The Citadel. Both games this weekend are doubleheaders with the ladies hosting Furman (2 pm) Saturday.